Pilgrimage To Italy

As some of you know, Judy and I just returned from a 12 day pilgrimage to Italy.  We visited Eucharistic shrines, Cathedrals & Basilicas , vineyards, a buffalo mozzarella farm, and some great restaurants. We also walked about a thousand miles throughout Italy. It’s amazing that we’re still alive. From the time we awoke on Tuesday morning in New Jersey, it was ~30 hours until we put our head on our pillow  Wednesday night in Assisi. If we had ended the pilgrimage at that point, it would have been a wonderful trip. My head still hasn’t stopped spinning.

In that first 30 hours, we flew across the ocean, bussed from Rome to Orvieto to Assisi. We visited a beautiful winery where we sampled some delicious wines, enjoyed terrific pasta, cheeses, breads. We toured the beautiful Cathedral of Orvieto, the site of the Miracle of the Eucharist of Bolsena where we celebrated Mass. We then traveled to our hotel in Assisi where we had a wonderful meal. Before we fell into bed, we had to figure out how to work the lights. (they kept going out while we were in the bathroom) and how the safe worked. (where we were encouraged to keep our passports). We fell into bed exhausted. But that was only our first day. Yet miraculously we popped up early the next morning and started day two. The many holy saints we visited must have been praying for us. In truth, we should have gone straight to a nursing home, but we kept going… walking and singing, and praising God. I think we walked some 4-5 miles every day.

We became close with our fellow pilgrims who were wonderful, holy people. Thanks to them, I became an expert in eating Gelato and pasta and learned three Italian words…. Buongiorno, Ciao, and Adios. We also grew closer to our good saint friends- Francis and Clare, Padre Pio, Peter & Paul, the Blessed Mother. We even got to know new friends like Saints  Rita, Bartolo Longo, Sebastian, Catherine of Sienna, Carlo Acutis, and others. One of the greatest blessings of the pilgrimage is that I feel that I can call on these great saints to help me in my current challenges.

You may ask, “Dave, what was the biggest challenge of the pilgrimage? Was it the long days, walking up and down hills, not understanding the language? No, it was the search for the next bathroom.  Pilgrims are focusing on the great saints and miracles and magnificent basilicas and I’m looking for the bathroom. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit. 

We visited Orvieto, Assisi, Cascia, Loreto, Lanciano, San Giovanni Rotondo, Pompeii, Naples, and Rome. It was exhausting but exciting. Another interesting fact is that despite eating  pasta everyday and a lot of gelato, we actually lost a few pounds. 

One bit of advice from our tour guide Fr. John Gordon was that while we experienced blessings during the trip, we will experience many more once we return home. That’s been happening for me. I feel that the great blessings are still happening. I think renewed perseverance to bring back the BLOG is one of those blessings. So stay tuned, you’ll be hearing more about our pilgrimage in future BLOGS. For now, Buongiorno.

P.S. That’s St. Peter waving to you above.

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